Birthday
by g14classify
Summary: The twins have a birthday coming up and Henry wants to do something special for his bride-to-be. Evie just wants a simple celebration and Jacob just wants to make sure he's not forgotten. Will be at least two parts.
1. Chapter 1

"But it's MY birthday too, Greenie! You should be getting us BOTH a present, don't you think?"

"I understand that. But YOU are not my fiancee, Jacob."

The two arguing voices could be heard through Evie's compartment window. Neither seemed to know that she was already wide awake and fully alert.

"I'm just saying; why don't you throw us both a surprise party?"

"Because, I want to do something special for _her._ And besides, how can it be a surprise when you already know about it?"

"It will still be a surprise…for her anyway. And let's keep it down, shall we? Don't want my dear sister to hear our planning."

"Me? YOU keep it down. You're the one bellowing out everything. And who said _we_ were making plans?"

Evie covered her mouth in an attempt to smother her laughter at her brother and her husband-to-be. It was true that she and Henry were to be married, which they had yet to make any arrangements for, but here the three of them were; the two men bickering over birthday presents and the lady snickering at their poor attempt to keep a secret.

She heard their footsteps approaching her room and so she plopped herself back into bed. Just as she was raising the covers up to her chin, she heard one of them knock loudly on her door.

"Hey! Evie! Time to get up!," said the slightly muffled voice. "If I don't get to sleep late, then so don't you!"

Then, a much softer voice said, "If you are awake now, might I come in?"

Evie smiled at that and said with a fake yawn, "Yes, I'm awake now. Come in, Henry."

She quickly checked herself in the mirror across from her bed, making sure not to have any embarrassing issues with her appearance, and then sat up as Henry entered. Upon seeing _his_ appearance, she had to admit she was mildly shocked and a little concerned.

"Why Henry, darling, you look terrible!" she nearly shouted, taking in his tired face and somewhat disheveled clothing.

Her fiance stepped further into the room sheepishly with a hand raking through his unkempt jet black hair and a shy smile on his face. "I am sorry, my love, I had no intention of greeting you like this. I have been up all night, you see, and I haven't been able to catch any sleep since."

Evie leaped out of bed and in one stride made it over to her lover and pulled him into her arms. "Why haven't you been able to sleep, dear? What is troubling you?" she asked even though she had a feeling she knew the answer. The Master Assassin noticed how Henry had been getting gradually more haggard for the past week. And with the twins' birthday coming up in a few days, she started piecing together all the clues of 'celebration' planning that he was no doubt putting in place.

Realizing he hadn't answered her question yet, she put her hands on either side of his face and made him face her. He shyly looked away from her, but then she started squeezing his cheeks playfully, making him look at her oddly with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes.

"St-stop it! Haha!"

"Well, then, tell me what's wrong, hmm?"

"Aahh…well?" he stuttered. "I, uhh…"

"Oh, what a _riveting_ conversation we are having! Absolutely thrilling!"she stated sarcastically while tapping a foot impatiently. She wasn't truly upset with him, of course. But she did want him to see how unnecessary all of this to-do was. How she was going to go about getting him to see without letting on that she knew what was up; well, that was going to be a challenge…


	2. Chapter 2

Henry thought long and hard about what he was going to do as he left Evie's room that night. He'd figured that he and Jacob had already aroused suspicion in the elder Frye twin and the last thing he wanted was for everything to come crashing down because of premature discovery. He knew Evie didn't want a big show of things, but he also had Jacob in his head. For Greenie (god, he hated that name), it was making the whole affair more difficult than it needed to be.

He left the train and took to the rooftops of the buildings nearby. It always helped to clear his head, running, especially at night. As he scaled the tower of a factory that had closed for the evening, he considered two things: keeping Evie's birthday simple, and making sure he finally got some sleep. He decided that those were the most important issues at the moment, and not necessarily in that order.

Making it to the top of the tower, he scanned the city, taking in the fresh air only the highest atmosphere could give, and when done performed a leap of faith to the haycart below. He decided to lie there for a minute, breathing in the sweet smelling hay and viewing the stars peeking through the yellow strands. It was the most relaxed he had been all week, he realized as he slowly began to drift off…

When he finally woke an hour later he shot up out of the hay and looked around, startled. He was somehow back at the train and staring back at him were the faces of the Fryes, one laughing his arse off and the other furious.

"How did I get back here?" he asked with alarm.

"Ned-ah haha!-Ned Wynert f-found you and pushed the-the cart-oh god!-he pushed the cart all the way here!" Jacob struggled to reply between a fit of guffaws.

Henry felt his cheeks grow hot and turned to look at Evie which only made it worse.

"I-I'm sorry…I…"

"Bed. Now."

"Y-yes, ma'am…"

He jumped out of the hay and went straight inside the train to the compartment they now shared. Jacob, not surprisingly, was still laughing when Evie finally took her narrowed eyes off of Henry and settled them on her brother. He stopped almost immediately at the look on her face but as she turned to follow her fiance into the train, the laughing fit started up once more.

By the time Evie returned to their compartment, she found Henry snoring softly in their bed, still fully dressed. The poor man didn't even stir when Evie went to him and pulled the covers over his sleeping form. She took a moment to just watch him sleep, admiring his long, silky hair and beautiful dark brown skin. His long lashes fluttered as she stroked his cheek but he still did not wake. "Sleep, my love…" she uttered, and with that, put out the lights and slid in next to him.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where did you say this shop was again?" Evie asked Ned warily as they turned down a particularly shabby alleyway that was strangely dark despite the time of day.

Ned Wynert, the Assassin trios' illustrious criminal friend, gave her a mischievous smile. "Aww, don't worry, my dear. You are safe with me. I own this part of town, you know."

Evie raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you do, Mr. Wynert."

Ned gave her a fake shocked look. "Hey, how many times do I have to say call me Ned, eh? Annnd..." he wiggled his bushy eyebrows, "Here we are!"

He had stopped before a dilapidated storefront that looked as if it had been closed for years. Evie could just see inside the poorly shuttered windows and noticed a single lamp lit on a nearby table. The whole setting was eerie in a way, and she nearly jumped clean out of her skin when Ned put a hand on her shoulder.

"Whoa, hey you seem jumpy. You afraid of the dark or somethin'?"

Hearing the sarcasm in his voice, the Master Assassin pulled herself to her full height (thus towering over Neds smallish frame) and said, "No, I am not. What I am is anxious to get this over with. Shall we?"

The smile on Wynerts face grew even bigger at those words. He opened the rotted door and allowed Evie to step inside.

Admittedly, she was very surprised to find the abandoned shop to be in pretty fair condition as she traveled from area to area. Actually, with a little cleaning here and there, and some paint, extra lighting, and new furnishings...

"Not bad, eh?" said Ned almost proudly.

Evie gave the shop one more look around from where she was standing.

"Not bad..."she agreed, nodding her head, "not bad at all."

 **Some time later**...

"So, I was just tellin' 'im, I said, 'we should have a party for BOTH of us!', you know? An' of course he just tries to make it alllll about my sister because they're gettin' _married_ an' all; completely forgetting about me even though it's also MY birthday too!"

Ned simply pats Jacob on the back as the younger Frye twin drunkenly whines about his predicament. He watches as Jacob downs the rest of his ale (his 3rd that night) and insists on keeping him from trying to down a 4th. He sighs as his friend starts to cry.

"I just wan' a present, Ned! Tha's..." he accidentally knocked over his tankard, "tha's all I wan't izzat sooooo much to ask? Hmmm? Izzit?" His head fell onto the counter near his drink and soon snores were emanating from his crooked top hat.

Ned rolled his eyes and muttered, "if you only knew, my friend", and began to help Jacob up to his room for he was not going to make it to the train.

As he struggled to bring him upstairs, he wondered, "will I wind up carrying Evie too, at some point?" He tried to imagine the older Frye in his arms, him struggling to carry her, and her glaring at him daring him to drop her. He put that on his list of things to do before he died and, making it to the room, pushed open the door and dropped Jacob onto the bed.

"I know one thing," he muttered, glaring down at the snoring Jacob. "You'd better like what Evie is doing for you for YOUR birthday, and you'd damn well better have something good for her!" A loud snore-cough from Jacob. Rolling his eyes again probably for the 100th time that night, Ned rubbed Jacob's head affectionately and left the room.


End file.
